The old gentleman died: his will was read, and like almost every other will, gave as much disappointment as pleasure. He was neither so unjust, nor so ungrateful, as to leave his estate from his nephew;—but he left it to him on such terms as destroyed half the value of the bequest. Mr. Dashwood had wished for it more for the sake of his wife and daughters than for himself or his son;—but to his son, and his son’s son, a child of four years old, it was secured, in such a way, as to leave to himself no power of providing for those who were most dear to him, and who most needed a provision by any
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Austen must be one of the most witty and humorous writers I know about. How she is able to describe the reading of the will and death of the gentleman Dashwood. the cleaver news of the distribution of the estate was a pleasant surprise of the arc of the ladies of the Dashwood family have found themselves.
